ESPN Deportes gets rights to Pan Am Games

ESPN
Deportes has picked up the exclusive rights in the United States to
Spanish-language broadcasts of this year’s Pan American Games, which are slated
to begin in July.

The
games, however, haven’t found a U.S. broadcaster that is willing to take the
English-language feed, and sources said there’s a good chance the
English-language rights will go unsold for the second straight event.

ESPN
has decided not to pick up the English-language rights to this year’s event,
the 15th edition of the games, citing the small sales and scheduling window and
relatively high rights fee. ESPN officials would not comment on the terms for
either the English-language or Spanish-language multiplatform rights.

Instead,
ESPN and ESPN2 will telecast five total hours of ESPN Deportes coverage, in
Spanish, during the games. ESPN will carry two hours of basketball coverage
from the semifinals. ESPN2 will devote two hours to boxing and one hour to
volleyball. The English-language networks will most likely take the Deportes
feed during a midweek time slot.

ESPN
and ESPN2 have carried the Spanish-language Deportes feed on several prior
occasions, the most recent being the Juan Pablo Montoya-won Busch Series race
in Mexico in March.

The
problem some of the English-language broadcasters are having with the Pan Am
Games deal is that the rights are being granted just two months before the
event, giving broadcasters little time to sell advertising, clear schedules and
create marketing plans.

“This
is what I mean when I say this is an undervalued property,” said Lino Garcia,
general manager of ESPN Deportes. “The way this property has been managed has
been on a last-minute basis like this.”

Held
once every four years (always the year before the Summer Olympics), this year’s
event is planned for July 13-29 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The
games are managed by a nongovernment, nonprofit company that is overseen by the
Brazilian Olympic Committee. Officials there were not available for comment.

ESPN
Deportes’ deal includes exclusive Spanish-language radio and wireless rights,
plus some nonexclusive Internet rights. The network is planning to telecast
160 hours from the games, with 130
hours live.